Dive Review of Kasai Village Resort & Spa in
Philippines/Moalboal, Cebu Island

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Kasai Village Resort & Spa: "Inexpensive & Good Diving", Sep, 2015, by Bradley William Bowen, UT, US ( Sr. Reviewer 7 reports with 9 Helpful votes). Report 8371.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	Kasai Village Resort, Moalbal, Cebu Island, Sept 6 to 11, 2015. At Kasai, we had the place to ourselves, with two divers leaving the day we arrived, and one diver arriving the day before we departed. We enjoyed spacious ocean view rooms, the dining was very good, and we could order whatever we wanted even if it was part of different menu items. All around great resort - and so small that everything is convenient and centralized. Kasai had a nice blend of muck and wall diving. Dive staff and restaurant staff were excellent. Dive masters were knowledgeable, helpful, good critter finders, etc. Three dives per day from the boat, with the night dive on the house reef, which is entered from the end of a long pier on whichever side waves are not hitting. It has stairs down to the water on both sides. Mandarin Fish at dusk and for twenty minutes after dark. Excellent night dives with large turtles sleeping on the reef, squid, and many other critters. Huge school of sardines at dive site twenty minutes from the resort and East of Pescador Island. Great wall diving at Pescador Island, which used to be known for large fish, which appear to have been consumed by the local population. Lots of turtles on many dives. People are very poor and there were many scavenging in tide pools for anything edible daily at both low tides. Learned the minimum wage varies from one city to another, and from one Island to another, ranging from 450 pesos in Manilla to 310 pesos on Negros Orientales. Minimum wage on Cebu was 320 pesos. I spoke to lots of people and it was the wage that virtually everyone was paid, although some made a big point of telling me that “the other resort just down the road" only paid 200 pesos per day, and they were upset about it. Minimum wage laws are not enforced. The exchange rate was 46 pesos to the dollar (at the airport which gives the best exchange rate), which means people who have jobs earn from $4 to $10 per day. I highly recommend getting a massage at Kasai Village Resort, which only cost 750 pesos ($17). I gave the woman a $5 tip each time, and got a massage 4 of the 5 days. The tip was very much appreciated, and the therapist told me she had told the resort to call her even if it was her day off if I wanted a massage. Tips were not expected, but were very much appreciated. Upon departure we tipped dive staff and some restaurant staff directly. I bought pesos at the local bank prior to departure, and it was nice to have some money upon arrival as dollars are not accepted locally. However, dollars were very much appreciated as tips and could be exchanged by the recipients with local money changers at 43 pesos to the dollar. Very poor exchange rate going to pesos or to dollars at US airports and banks. It was a three hour fifteen minute trip to the resort from the airport, and the pre-arranged van driver said it was very light traffic due to being a Sunday. Can be a five hour van ride on business days. After 5 days of diving on Cebu we had an hour van ride to the ferry to Negros, which only cost around $2 but only accepts pesos. Ferry ride was around 30 minutes, and we spent the next 5 days muck diving Negros Orientales from the Atmosphere Resort & Spa and wall diving at Apo Island, which had spectacular corals, both hard and soft, as well as large fish. You should note that there is an international “terminal” and a domestic “terminal” in Cebu. They are separated by a wall and security check point, but are adjacent. My wife and I were unable to check our bags from the US to Cebu and had to collect them and recheck them in Manilla. One bag ended up in the International Terminal, the rest in the domestic terminal. My cousin and his wife checked their luggage from the US all the way to Cebu, and it was all in the international terminal. Highly recommend diving both islands as the diving varies significantly from the shore of Cebu, to the shore of Negros, and from the diving around Pescador Island to the diving around Apo Island. My cousins’ travel agent, Marjanna Helwig (mj@GreatExpeditionsTravel.com), arranged everything except paying for the $2 ferry tickets, which is very important for a trip of this nature. US type ground transportation is NOT available unless prearranged, and it would be IMPOSSIBLE to find ground transportation for all of our dive gear and photography equipment if it hadn’t been prearranged. We had no problems or issues of any kind getting to and from both dive resorts, and we will be using Marjanna in the future.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	501-1000 dives
Where else diving	Fiji, Maldives, Indonesia, Cozumel, Galapagos, Hawaii, California, Florida, Socorro Islands, Palau, Turks & Caicos, Cayman Islands, etc.
Closest Airport	Cebu	Getting There	San Francisco to Manilla with connecting flight to Cebu
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, rainy, cloudy, dry	Seas	calm, choppy, currents, no currents
Water Temp	78-84°F / 26-29°C	Wetsuit Thickness	1
Water Visibility	30-200 Ft/ 9-61 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	Divemasters specified depth and 1 hour dive time, but didn't get upset that we often went deeper than they stated or that we dove for 10 t0 20 minutes longer than the one hour specified.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish	N/A
Large Pelagics	N/A
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	Around 20 individual stations with towels, lights, and charging outlets for both 240 and 110 on shore. If you need more than one 110 outlet you would need to use an adjacent charging station, or bring an extension cord that has several 110 outlets on it.

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Dive Review of Kasai Village Resort & Spa in Philippines/Moalboal, Cebu Island

Kasai Village Resort & Spa: "Inexpensive & Good Diving", Sep, 2015,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Kasai Village Resort & Spa in
Philippines/Moalboal, Cebu Island